Winning in today’s market with the ROX edge

In today’s business landscape, customer experience reigns supreme. While technology drives efficiency and productivity, it’s the quality of experiences that truly differentiates one business from another. Return on Experience, or ROX, is a metric that underscores this shift. By quantifying the impact of customer, employee, and leadership experiences on business outcomes, organisations can gain invaluable insights into what truly drives growth and loyalty.

In an era defined by experiences, financial success is no longer solely measured by numbers or the bottom line. Businesses are now recognising the importance of cultivating meaningful connections with customers and employees. For forward-thinking corporate leaders, focusing on ROX is essential for making smart, strategic decisions that truly resonate with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders. 

The latest episode of ‘Life’s True Value’, a unique series of exclusive conversations, featured its first woman guest – Seema Ambastha, Chief Executive Officer, L&T – Cloudfiniti. Ambastha spoke about the two main disruptors for her business – ROX and Artificial Intelligence (AI)- and shared some snippets from her home and personal life, as well as what ROX means for her in this domain. The series is shot in one of India’s most luxurious living spaces, 25 South, in Mumbai.

According to her, ROX has become an important factor for every industry, even if it does not have a direct consumer interface. “In the data centre industry, we measure ROX on heads of service quality, delivery, and customer experience, and that defines the retention of the customer. I think anything where the customer is involved, experience keeps the customer and defines your relationship with them, measured by what experience they have every day. And for people who trust all their assets with us, it is all the more important. They feel good staying with you for a much longer time. It does not happen if there is a varied experience without consistency at all times that doesn’t have this long-lasting relationship,” said Ambastha. 

As the CEO, she ensures that the focus is on delivering experiences for every stakeholder, and the business has developed multiple matrices towards this to ensure that everything significant is measured, whether it is employee objectives, customer satisfaction, delivery experience or overall service quality. “There is another one, too – how do you see the return? Whatever you do, you have to measure it through return, which we call a financial or a business metric. All four of them correlate with each other. We do a quarterly customer experience survey,” she said.

 A major stakeholder in the ROX journey of any organisation is the employee, and the overall attrition rates are an accurate indicator of the happiness quotient of the workforce. “On the employee dimension, we do two things – employee satisfaction, which comes from compensation, work environment, health, and hygiene. Our employees have their own food space, and they have their own gym spaces, or recreational spaces. Despite all of this, if there is an attrition, then it’s definitely pointing something towards satisfaction,” she further said.

The data industry is undergoing a seismic shift driven by two primary forces: the rise of experience-centric business models (ROX) and the exponential growth of AI. While L&T – Cloudfiniti has been focussing on building data centres and digital infrastructure for retail and wholesale businesses, the AI revolution demands a new paradigm. “AI actually transforms two things for us. One, it has an impact on our product. And secondly, it has an impact on us operationally. The amount of CapEx investments has been redefined. We are redefining space, our designs, because the amount of footprint, the amount of form factor you need to host AI racks is smaller, but the power is enormously high,” she said. 

AI’s computationally intensive nature necessitates a radical overhaul of data infrastructure, calling for unprecedented levels of power and scale. “At an operational level, customers test their AI in your data centre to see how it is making their life better. You can deploy numerous operational processes more automated using Predictive AI, Gen AI, or cognitive AI. AI plays a crucial role even in the ROX to give the customer a personalised experience,” she added.

At a personal level, she enjoys wearing the CEO’s hat and likes to face new challenges in the office each morning. Talk to her about stress and she says: “In leadership roles, stress is productive. It is a part of life – making decisions, managing teams, managing conflicts, being in scrutiny. Everything is about stress, what matters at the end is how well you can manage it. I think for women, there are more corridors, you really need to really manage both things and do it as efficiently as you can. I do a lot of journaling, and I record a lot of my thoughts, my conflicts, and my ideas while journaling.”

After a hard day at work, she likes to retire to her haven, her home, to relax and unwind. For C-suite executives like Ambastha, investing in a luxury home is also an investment that delivers a ROX. So, when asked about her favourite spot at home, she said, “I love my sun deck – I have a lovely deck. It’s a nice, big space, and I have a small makeshift table there, so I can sit and work while I am out and enjoy some beautiful sunlight. I think the best of creativity, managing stress, processing a lot of great ideas, everything comes outdoors. I’m very close to nature. I love my home. That’s what keeps me very, very happy. It’s my favourite place,”

Speaking about the correlation between living spaces and her work, she said: “Amenities are an essential part of our life today. In an urban setup, families are usually made up of a couple of generations with very different needs. An ideal living space must provide for everyone – with a walking space, a viewing space, a good relaxing space, some exercising space and a playing space for the kids.”

Ambastha concluded the session with essential lessons. “The most important lesson is to understand the customer. Secondly, it is important to personalise the experience. Third, it is important to empower your employees and delegate. The fourth is very consistent delivery of service. It can’t be a point in time and has to be consistently cool. And, I think that is the brand value of L&T too. Last but not the least, you have to add value to a transaction.” 

Disclaimer: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio.